1950-60's comercial freezer build

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I have pretty much the same set up with a commercial stainless fridge. The interior is 6' tall and measures 23 1/2" X 23 1/2". With electric I was unable to reach high enough temps and every time I opened the door regaining the temperature took too log so I went propane. Now it is thermostatically controlled and have it set up with a pilot light that has auto ignition. I have had it set up this way for over five years, it works great and is a set it and forget it smoker that regulates temps from 100º to 250º. Now I just found a double door stainless proofer that is 67" High x 62" Wide x 28" Deep and plan on switching everything over to it.

For smoke I use the A-MAZE-N 5X8 pellet tray and for racks stainless steel was just to expensive so I used aluminum expanded metal.

Here is a list of electronics I used for temp control-

Thermometers for the door – wanted something low enough to show 90°, purchased Cooper thermometer 2” dial with 5” stem our range was -40° to 180°. We bought these locally from a restaurant supply company in town.

Thermostat
http://www.us.sbt.siemens.com/sbttemplates/library/pdf/155019.pdf user manual from the part
http://www.energyequipment.com/c-48-thermostats.aspx - this is the site we bought ours from but I don’t see our model # there anymore. Maybe call and see what would be a replacement.
Product # - 141-0521

Transformer
http://www.patriot-supply.com/products/showitem.cfm/HONEYWELL_AT140A1000

Ignition Kit
http://www.patriot-supply.com/products/showitem.cfm/HONEYWELL_Y8610U4001

Please be safe and know what your doing, your playing with propane which is explosive and wouldn't want to hear of any accidents.
 
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I would almost prefer a smoker the size you have it would have been so much easier and less expensive to outfit although I'm sure smoking 40-50# of sausage at a time will come in handy and I have to remember that 2013 is a Humpy year (Pink Salmon) in the PNW so we will be smoking lots of salmon come Aug/Sept.
 
I've been looking for a viable replacement for the black fiber/plastic trim that surrounds the door and ice box I found a place that will cut all the pieces in 3/32" aluminum for $50. but I may still try a tin roof type flashing first.
 


Daily update for saturday. Well once again the sun was shining and I shunned the mower in favor of working on the smoker. I decided I would try to use some dark black roof flashing to replace that black plastic around the door it is alot thinner material but that will leave a space for the rope gasket at the interior edge of the door. I am also planning on installing a standard refer gasket around the exterior edge of the door as it is far enough from the hot area as to avoid damage and will also seal most of the rain out when smokeing



on the patio.  I used the old parts as patterns so the fab went fast  till I started cleaning all the old door seal off and removeing the insulation from the door which by the way exposed to my surprise six pieces of old ceiling tiles used to give the door some weight I guess? They were very wet so out they came. I didn't want to go buy any sheet goods to replace it so I found some 3/4" pre primed 1x8 cedar cut offs from one of my jobs its been collecting dust in my garage for about 6 years so 2 hours later I finish the jigsaw puzzle and have just enough time left to lay down a bead of high temp seal and mount 3 of the 4 pieces around the door before calling it a night.
 



I got to work on the door for a little while today I was really hopeing to complete it but its proving to be more challenging then first thought. It turns out useing the plastic door sides for patterns didn't give me as accurate layout for the screw holes as I expected so putting in as many screws as would fit on all 4 sides then adjusting the other holes to line up in a dry fit first then removeing screws from one side at a time, laying in a bead of HT silicone then rescrewing well you get the picture. 

Heres a few things for my hit list this week:

1) work on rusty latch and froze hinge pin also cut new spacers for box side of hinge plates from old blk plastic material.

2) silicone last 3 sides of int door panel.

3) clean/wipe down interior box of freezer.
 
Well here it is april 10th and I havn't been able to do anything with all the rain  and OT at work, blah, blah, blah. I did do some research on the electronics part of this project so I priced out from aubrins, keeping in mind that my bench mark is the $215. programable pid  with 2 probes .

I came up with this list: so far $160.00 and no encloser, wire, switchs, fuse or breaker can anyone see an advantage of one set up over the other?

SYL1.jpg
$78.00  heat control 
TC-K4.jpg
 smoker wall $11.95

$37.00 for meat temp only
171Sa.jpg
$14.65

40A SSR relay $19.00
 
Well as usual life is taking its toll on my smoker project I was able to finish the door a couple of weeks ago and go over the outside/inside with a 7"dull 80 grit sanding disc to cleanup the stains and scratchs and it looks really good I will try to get pics up soon. I was able to get the main cabinet cleaned up and vacuumed out so hopefully work will progress soon.
 
Well it has been awhile since my last post on my freezer build but it has been calling to me for attention lately. The two items with this freezer that I'm still dealing with are the shelving and heat/controller choices.

Shelves first.

I have been down at a major used appliance recycler and still can not find oven shelves that closely fit the inside  of 26.5w x 16.5d x 44h (6 shelves) I would really like to maximize the shelves to the interior which is proving harder than first thought. I did come up with a so, so solution by useing those chrome plated self standing shelf units like at cosco but cant seem to find one that is 16" deep Home Depot has 14"Dx24"W for 19.97 so I got two 3 shelf units (not useing legs) which will do for now I'm hopeing someone has a better idea PLEASE I'm all ears.

      oh boy its time to go to work already. will continue later
 
Not a bad idea Dave though I decided for now to use the 24"w x 14" chrome shelves. I would like to set them up so they can be removed and replaced easily and since these have that tapered leg/pipe at each corner I'm going to try a swing out system off one corner. Imagine a 1/2"pipe on left front corner of cooking chamber going top to bottom with a tee and elbow w/2"nipple pointing up at every shelf position for a pivot point. I can swing each shelf out to view then lift off if needed. A nice fitted tapered bushing will have to be made so the shelves don't sag. I will try to post some pics and drawing of the configuration when time allows.
 
Update. I have looked far and wide for a temp control that compares to the auberins duel probe pid  and none such exists PLUS Auberins is a U.S. company and have a history of customer service so I went ahead and ordered it yesterday. I also found a 1500w Brinkmans element from BassPro for 28.99 and found the door seal at McMaster-Carr so the components should be arriving by next week. Its nice to finally get going again on this project.
 
the stuff you bought is the same that i did for my build and it works real good if you are smoking sticks or summer sausage just remember to let your product dry a little before you put the sawdust pan in. you should always let you product get a little tacky on the outside before you start the smoking process. i was in the meat business for 40 years before selling out. it is a must that what ever you smoke that you start at a low temp say 110 degrees to 120 degrees . you leave it at this temp untill your product is dry or tacky not wet.what this does is allows the smoke to get in the meat.when you get to this point then you can start the cooking process by turning up the heat
 
screw some small angle iron on the sides at say 6 inches apart all the way down each side and this will allow you to slide your shelves on . and if you cant find shelves to fit you can use a wider angle that way you can use a smaller shelve
 
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